Synopsis

Tawai is the word the nomadic hunter gatherers of Borneo use to describe their inner feeling of connection to nature. In this dreamy, philosophical and sociological look at life, explorer Bruce Parry travels the world to learn from people living lives very different to our own. From the jungles of Malaysia to the tributaries of the Amazon, TAWAI is a quest for reconnection, providing a powerful voice from the heart of the forest itself.

Tawai is the word the nomadic hunter gatherers of Borneo use to describe their inner feeling of connection to nature. In this dreamy, philosophical and sociological look at life, explorer Bruce Parry travels the world to learn from people living lives very different to our own. From the jungles of Malaysia to the tributaries of the Amazon, TAWAI is a quest for reconnection, providing a powerful voice from the heart of the forest itself.

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Movie Reviews

Reviewed by gjr-8516510 / 10

MUST BE required viewing

This should be forcibly shown to everyone. If we force people to sit through the drudgery that is school, or work, THIS is far more important and enlightening than any science or math class. Anyone saying this viewpoint is naive obviously knows nothing of the world they live in - they simply exist in the paradigm, relying on others to tell them where they live and what space they occupy. You can tell that these people and anyone like them have a FAR DEEPER understanding of the natural world, which goes beyond what science can tell you, especially from these people who are really actors themselves like Degrasse Tyson. Science has convoluted this truth into bits and pieces, material things which they have convinced you that you need. The problem is that, because someone actually shows respect, they are disrespected. Unfortunately these people will also not take up arms to defend themselves, thus they are unjustly forced out of their homes because people need to eat chocolate and wash with fancy soaps. Globalisation IS a problem because we have gotten away from the truth of how the world works, in favor of manipulating it, trying to solve problems with more problems, ultimately only leading up to a reliance on government and useless human beings who have zero interest in actually positively building up the world around them. But to each their own - despite the fact that NONE of us are given a choice - we are FORCED into this god forsaken corrupt commercial and material lifestyle which does nothing but generate trash and waste, including out of the bodies of the people themselves (i.e. people are trash).

Reviewed by simon-259151 / 10

I will never get this time back again

Deep, meaningful and incredibly naive. Globalisation is a monster that has taken over all, to think a small sharing community in Malaysia can resist this onslaught is very simplistic.

This film did inspire deep thinking and sadness that we are not able to live in this kind of sharing community, however this community did not inspire individualism and striving to achieve which are the realities of the world we live in.

Reviewed by katiestar-894099 / 10

Tawai - connecting to the forest like a baby connects to a mother's breast

Tawai

A beautiful, haunting and most welcome opportunity to tune in to how the remaining few real egalitarian hunter gather societies relate to each other and their surroundings. How they live and breathe that connection and inter-relatedness, how their way of life keeps them so tightly in touch with the present moment, with each other and the soil on which they step. An insight into what we lose when we fall out of that interwoven way of life and most of all, an invitation to allow in and fully embody the heavy aching pain and frustration that our own daily actions are chipping away at these precious last living examples of true human harmony with nature. Chipping away at the resources that are the lifelines of our planet.

It is pain that we really need to face, fully open to and deeply feel. We owe it to these societies and we owe it our planet and to ourselves, to witness and be present to this process of destruction that is happening to us as one global unit.

Tawai means to feel a sense of connection to our surroundings, in a way like how a baby is connected to a mother and her breast. To know with its whole being that it needs her, that it feeds upon her and will not be able to survive without her and her love.